


Say It Again

by n_nami



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M, Young Love, also it irks me when the first name thing in anime fic isn't used right, first name basis, high school sweethearts, those two will marry and raise two kids together and grow old together and everybody knows it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-23
Updated: 2015-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-19 08:10:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3602763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/n_nami/pseuds/n_nami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kazunari never figured Midorima to be the kind of person to use nicknames. He is, however, proven wrong once they actually start dating.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Say It Again

**Author's Note:**

> Couldn't get it out of my head, so I put it on paper. Unbeta'd, all mistakes are my own.

“Kazu,” the whisper is so soft, almost inaudible, and Kazunari knows it's a slip of the tongue because of the gasp that follows, hot against the side of his neck.

The feelings that explode like fireworks inside him are just as colorful and for a moment, he struggles to breathe. This is so much like the first time Shintarou used his given name, and yet so different.

“Kazu,” Shintarou says again, his voice still deep but firmer now, like he's trying out the nickname, tests the way it feels on his tongue.

Kazunari doesn't know what to do. Between hugging Shintarou tight and never letting his precious, adorable Shin-chan go again, and throwing him on the next best horizontal surface to fuck him silly, there's too much incentive to both. In the end, he settles for cupping Shintarou's face in both of his hands and kisses him, hard and sure, tells him with his lips what he can't put into words right now. They fall into the pillows of Kazunari's bed, curled around each other.

This had been a long time in the coming, this thing between them. Sure.

Kazunari always thought he'd meet a nice girl one day, just like that, and they'd marry and have two adorable kids and grow old together, and then there's that. He didn't expect to meet her in high school, because who met The One in high school? No one, that's who. He certainly didn't expect to meet _him_ in middle school, on the basketball court, while getting his ass handed to him.

And then, it took exactly two Winter Cups that they didn't win, two lost Inter-Highs and one that they won, and no earlier than that did the ever-lasting bickering and being attached at the hip turn into something more.

Ever since then – precisely, since right before their last Winter Cup's preliminaries – Shintarou has slowly eased himself into calling Kazunari by his given name. It's been a wild ride so far, and an entertaining one at that, since Shintarou has been on a last name basis with him for three years, and old habits die hard.

On the court, when Kazunari teases him or pokes fun at him, he still says, “Shut up, Takao.” Never 'Shut up, Kazunari.' Not in these situations. Kazunari can appreciate that, although he's pretty sure that Shintarou only does it to not lose his face in front of their teammates.

The first time he'd said his name was a total surprise. Kazunari still remembers the shivers running down his spine. And since he essentially was responsible for that to happen, it felt almost twice as intimate.

He'd called him 'Shin-chan' since the night during their first year of high school, that night in the gym where the scary, stick-up-his-ass, carries-weird-stuff-around-with-himself-all-day-every-day Midorima had confronted him. At first, it was meant to tease the straight-laced and closed-off Midorima-kun. Everyone called him 'Midorima', except that ex-crazy ex-captain of his, and even though Akashi had warmed up some over the past years, he'll never be Kazunari's best friend and that's okay, too.

 _Midorima_.

It had something serious, something graceful and majestic to it, and everyone who'd seen Shintarou move on the court would agree that it suited him. So, of course Kazunari had named him 'Shin-chan' and ran with it.

Until that night, right before the preliminaries of their very last Winter Cup, they sat sweaty and with swollen lips in the locker room, staring at each other in disbelief. Kazunari grinned, “You know what this means, right, Shin-chan?”

“Huh?” Shintarou answered, dazed and a bit out of it, arms still loosely wrapped around Kazunari's waist.

“No more 'Takao this, Takao that'. It's Kazunari from here on out,” Kazunari nudged him into his side.

A tiny smile curled Shintarou's lips, and he'd nodded. “I'd like that, Kazunari.”

It was like a lightning had struck straight into Kazunari's spine. The way Shintarou's deep voice formed the word, the way his smile made it sound warm and almost tender, it hit right into Kazunari's very core.

“Are you alright?”

Kazunari had taken a deep breath and smiled. “Yes. That was just... unexpected.”

Shintarou frowned at him. “What was?”

“You calling me by my given name, _Shintarou_ ,” Kazunari teased, with the tip of his index finger drawing lazy circles on Shintarou's neck, watching transfixed as green eyes opened wide behind wire-rimmed glasses and a cute blush spread up to the green strands of his hair.

“I see,” Shintarou answered, and pulled Kazunari into his arms, let him tuck his head under his chin.

That was that.

And now – even though it's been years since Kazunari first called Shintarou by his nickname, even though they've experimented with each other's bodies quite a few times now, even though they have been best friends long before that wasn't the only thing they were to each other – now it's different.

“Do you like it?” Shintarou asks, looking almost sheepish when he eyes Kazunari from the corner of his eye. “I wouldn't... I mean, if you mind--”

“I don't mind at all,” Kazunari answers, breathless and so happy that he thinks he's about to burst, explode from his heart beating too fast in his chest.

“You don't?”

“No. Say it again,” Kazunari can't help it – he starts giggling as he snuggles closer into Shintarou's chest, settles in-between his spread legs with his head perched on Shintarou's torso.

“Kazu,” Shintarou says, and it's like a caress, like a mild summer breeze blowing over his skin, like a soft kiss to his ears. Which sounds weird, Kazunari admits that, but the metaphor fits.

“No one has ever called me that,” he admits aloud.

He can almost hear Shintarou's confused eyebrow high on his forehead. “No one?”

“Not even my little sister. Speaking of, how does yours address you?”

“My parents always were very strict with having to call each other by our full names,” Shintarou adjusts his glasses like he does so often, and Kazunari smiles.

“Figures.”

“So what about you?”

Kazunari shrugs. “Onii-chan, mostly. Bakazu-nii, when she's angry with me.”

And here's the thing – Shintarou rarely laughs. His humor is there, even if it's a lot of dry sarcasm and sparse comments, but Kazunari has known him long enough to know it's there, somewhere underneath all that stiff demeanor. Whether it's the simple pun or just the antics of a little sister that he's familiar with, Kazunari doesn't know, but it elicits a deep, guttural rumble from Shintarou's chest, which is shaking with suppressed laughter.

“Shin-chan, you're uncomfortable when you're laughing,” Kazunari complains playfully, not without a smirk on his lips, eyes closed as he shifts upwards and buries his nose in Shintarou's neck.

Kazunari thinks there's a 'Shut up, Takao' on the tip of Shintarou's tongue, his usual response to all sentences starting with 'Shin-chan', but Shintarou responds instead by pulling him closer and kissing him.

“I'm very sorry, Kazunari,” he says, sounding all honest and not like he's still giggling inside, the big tsundere that he is – and yes, the use of his name still has that exact same response that it had the first time, and _fuck_ but Shintarou knows it, he has to - “How can I make it up to you?”

“I could think of a thing or two,” Kazunari answers, then turns around to straddle Shintarou's hips.

 

**THE END**


End file.
